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Explaining Consumer Purchase Behavior For Organic Milk: Including Trust and Green Self-Identity Within The Theory of Planned Behavior

This study examined factors that influence Italian consumers' intentions and behaviors related to purchasing organic milk. [1] It applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework and additionally considered the roles of self-identity and trust. [2] The results of structural equation modeling showed that an extended TPB model including these additional factors better explained purchase intentions and behaviors. [3] Perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, self-identity as a green consumer, and trust in farmers were significant predictors of purchase intentions.

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56 views14 pages

Explaining Consumer Purchase Behavior For Organic Milk: Including Trust and Green Self-Identity Within The Theory of Planned Behavior

This study examined factors that influence Italian consumers' intentions and behaviors related to purchasing organic milk. [1] It applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework and additionally considered the roles of self-identity and trust. [2] The results of structural equation modeling showed that an extended TPB model including these additional factors better explained purchase intentions and behaviors. [3] Perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, self-identity as a green consumer, and trust in farmers were significant predictors of purchase intentions.

Uploaded by

Minza Jehangir
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Explaining consumer purchase behavior for

organic milk: including trust and


green self-identity within the theory of planned
behavior
Food Quality and Preference
Carfora et al., (2019)
Theoretical Frmework

 The Theory of Planned Behavior for explaining organic food consumption was adopted.
 This theory states that a specific behavior is driven by a person’s intention to carry out an
action.
 The intention reflects motivations and cognitive planning for engaging in the behavior, and
is determined by three key cognitive factors, which are attitude, subjective norm and
perceived behavioral control (PBC).
The Theory of Planned Behavior

 Attitude refers to positive or negative evaluation of the behavioral consequences.


 Subjective norm reflects the perceived social pressure to engage in the behavior.
 PBC is related to the individual’s perception of his/her ability to execute the behavior.
 TPB constructs prove to be strong predictors of various food choices (Carfora, Caso, &
Conner, 2017).
 Scalvedi, and Saba (2016) found that TPB factors could well explain the organic purchase
in the context of sustainable food products across Italy.
 They also considered the additional role of self-identity. The reason why self-identity predicts future
behavior may be found in Identity Theory, which explains how the individual’s expectations about role-
appropriate behavior can enforce his/her position within society (Callero, 1985; Charng, Piliavin, & Callero,
1988).
 In this study they specifically referred to the measure of self-identity as “green consumer”, which is the
individuals’ perception of being concerned with 'green issues.
 Within the TPB framework, some authors showed the validity of including the self-identity construct to
explain consumers’ intentions and behaviors, especially in relation to food choice.
 Instead of, trust factor is used for explaining consumers’ intention and behavior towards organic milk
consumption.
 Trust plays an important role in the decision-making process during food purchasing (Del Giudice, et al.,
2018) and has been shown to exert an important role within the TPB application to explain different food
choices (Lobb, et al., 2007)
Hypothesis

 H1: Italian consumers’ attitudes to organic milk could influence the  H6: The Italian consumer’s self-identity as a green consumer could
purchase intention of this product impact on intention in relation to organic milk purchase
 H2: Italian consumers who perceive social pressure to buy organic  H7: Italian consumers with higher trust in government would have
milk would have a greater intention to purchase it; higher levels of intention to purchase organic milk;
 H3: Italian consumers who present higher Perceived Behavioral  H8: Italian consumers with higher trust in farmers would have
Control (PBC) would have a higher intention to purchase organic higher levels of intention to purchase organic milk;
milk.
 H9: Italian consumers with higher trust in manufacturers would have
 H4: Italian consumers with a higher purchase of organic milk in the higher levels of intention to purchase organic milk;
past would have a greater intention to purchase organic milk;
 H10: Italian consumers with higher trust in retailers would have
 H5: Italian consumers with a higher purchase of organic milk in the higher levels of intention to purchase organic milk.
past would have higher levels of purchasing behavior in the future.
 H11: Italian consumers with a higher intention to purchase organic
 . milk at Time 1 would have higher levels of purchasing behavior in
relation to organic milk at Time 2.
Conceptual Model
Methodology

 Sample: Longitudinal data was collected from consumers of Italy to predict consumer
intention and future behavior to purchase organic milk.
 The online questionnaire at Time 1 presented TPB constructs in relation to the purchase of
organic milk, plus trust and self-identity, and also gender and age.
 At Time 2, after 4 weeks, future behavior in relation to organic milk purchase was
measured with the same item used at Time 1 to assess past behavior.
3.2 Measures

1. Farmers, manufacturers and retail intentions to purchase organic milk in the next month were measured
using three items. TPB scale was adapted from (Armitage & Conner, 1999).
2. Attitudes towards purchasing organic milk were measured with five items
3. Subjective norm was assessed with four items
4. Perceived behavioral control (PBC) was measured by six items
5. Self-identity was assessed with three items (Carfora, Caso, Sparks, et al., 2017).
6. Trust scale was adapted from the research of de Jonge, et al. (2008) which divided trust with respect to
different actors in the production process: including governments, manufacturers, farmers and retailers.
Data analysis

 Analyses were performed using SPSS and Mplus.


 SPSS was used for descriptive analyses, while Mplus was used to test structural equation
modeling.
 Two-stage procedure to perform Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis through
MPLUS. In both steps, the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method was employed
(Byrne, 2001)
 In first step, the quality and adequacy of the measurement model was tested through
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
 In the second step, we compared a reduced TPB model (Model 1) with a full TPB model
(Model 2).
 Model 1 included the traditional TPB variables (attitude, subjective norm, PBC and
behavior) as the predictors of consumers’ intention to purchase organic milk, and intention
as the predictor of future behavior.
 Model 2 included attitude, subjective norm, PBC, trust scales and self identity as the
predictors of consumers’ intention to purchase organic milk, while intention and past
behavior were considered as the predictors of future behavior.
5. Results

 Upon comparing the two tested models (Table 3), our results indicated that Model 2
showed a better fit than Model 1 (Δχ2 (46) = 3151.06; p < .001). Model 2 (Figure 2)
showed an acceptable goodness of fit (χ2 = 25.01, df = 8; RMSEA = .05; CFI = .99; TLI
= .98; SRMR = .01).
 Thus, we can accept Model 2 as the better model to explain consumer intentions and
future behavior in relation to organic milk purchase
Findings

 The present findings showed that Italian consumers’ intentions to purchase organic milk
were best explained by the perception of their personal control on organic milk purchases.
 The greatest impact of PBC on intentions might suggest that to increase the consumption
of organic milk in Italy it could be useful to increase availability of this product. Indeed,
the real or perceived lack of availability is one of the main consumption barriers for
organic food.
 Subjective norm was also a significant predictor of Italians’ intentions to purchase
organic milk. this outcome suggests that the opinions of “significant others” about organic
milk could be useful to translate these beliefs into a group norm, for using “opinion
leaders” like celebrities for stimulating intentions in relation to purchasing organic milk.
 Moreover, self-identity as green consumers determined consumers’ intentions, consistent
with previous studies. This finding highlighted the need to promote in Italian consumers
identification with green consumerism as an important aspect of their identity, through an
ecology-based education which could provide more detailed information about organic
milk, its impact on the environment and the importance of broadening its consumption as a
way to become a “green consumer”.

 Furthermore, our extended model of TPB shows that consumer trust is another major factor
in determining the intention to buy organic milk. This is in line with other studies, which
found that trust is an important motivational driver in the decision-making process results
suggest a potential new contribution to the current literature, showing that only one type of
trust “farmers” exerts a significant predictive power on intention to purchase organic milk.

 .
Managerial Implications

 This can lead to practicable suggestions for stakeholders:


 The importance of farmers in building consumer trust could be used to implement
innovative and more efficient marketing strategies for organic products.
 To improve consumer knowledge and perception about farmers work and reputation could
be an indirect but efficient way to increase market share for organic products

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